Find your tribe in a Sea of Creativity
Do you think about the way that Sun Wukong in the show views Qi Xiaotian as the most wonderful thing in the world?
Do you think about the stages of self-love that must go through his head as he watches Qi Xiaotian, a fogged up mirror of himself, cry ever so freely and get pulled into a group of people who and adore him and how he watches him grow brilliantly like a star slowly staging itself into a sun?
Do you think Sun Wukong, Victorious Fighting Buddha, a pillar of heroism and hope and inspiration, sees this young version of himself in Xiaotian and thinks, I adore you, I love you, I think you are the most wonderful thing, and I will never let you become what I am, ever, and thus lets him have stability and joy and hope and never brings him down because he could never have that for himself when he was younger? Because he was forced to find enlightenment as a punishment for an action of chaos he did not pursue out of selfish desire to become the number one being in the world to rule over everything—but as a way to appease a man and warrior and general who thought he was perfect and ran him down until he was nothing more than an angry caged demon under a mountain?
Do you think about how everyone abandons Wukong and Wukong abandons Xiaotian through and through but never with selfish desire? Never does he leave with the idea of, Lords, I need to get away from him, he’s too much, I can’t handle him, but with the thought of a worried love that plagues him even as he smashes through his very core memories of punishment and isolation? How he would break Heaven and Earth for this young adult who looks at him as if he is the greatest person in the world? How he adores Qi Xiaotian, this foolish, hyperactive, eager and beloved version of himself—how he adores this kid because he sees a way for him to diverge from the same paths he took when he was younger and how he never once feared him for who he was?
Do you think about how Sun Wukong—someone who Only values people by how much they’re worth—smiles at Qi Xiaotian and asks if he’s alright and covers him with his whole body and holds back all of his power… because he adores his apprentice and he would never do anything to hurt him?
Do you think Sun Wukong knew he was capable of feeling such love?